Audio Books, Exercise and Taming My Dragon

Hi everyone,

I've had a busy couple of weeks since I got back from my holiday in the Cotswolds. Mainly I've been concentrating getting my audiobooks produced and on sale. I now have three on sale and two more in production!

Available to buy now are the first two books in the Afterland Chronicles series - Ascension of the Whyte and Ryte of Passage as well as The Last Girl Guide, my stand alone post-apocalyptic young-adult survival adventure story.

In production is the final book in the Afterland Chronicles - Ice and Fyre, and my first children's book - Molly Midnight and the Little People.

I have also been putting my new exercise regimen into operation in an attempt to be healthier. Writing is a notoriously sedentary lifestyle so I vowed to walk at least 4 miles a day which pretty much ensures that I smash my 10,000 steps a day target too! My Fitbit stats are now something to be proud of and hopefully, I shall reap the rewards with a little weight loss and improved level of fitness too! My dog Jinks is also, understandably, extremely happy about this new exercise routine!

Lastly, with a view to increasing productivity and improve dialogue authenticity, I have been experimenting with Dragon Dictation software, and hopefully from now on will be writing all my first drafts using dictation.  The great thing is that I can combine the two and dictate while I am walking! So if you pass a preoccupied, dog-walking woman chuntering "Full stop, new paragraph" stop and say Hi - it will probably be me!

Fun with Dragon Dictation

Hi everyone,

This week I have been experimenting with Dragon Dictation. I walk my dog Jinks every day for over an hour. I usually walk her in the woods, on the beach or at the Roman ruins along by the Norfolk Broads. An expert at multi-tasking, I have long used this time to catch up on Writing and Author Podcasts, listen to audiobooks and to use text to speech software to do a copy edit of my work. However, I never thought I could use this time for actually writing the first draft of one of my books - until now.

I purchased the Dragon app for my iPhone and armed with Bluetooth headphones and mic I thought I would give it a try.

I must admit, I did feel a little self-conscious walking around the woods talking to myself. Luckily there were not many people around.  It took a little practice, and the result was rather littered with mistakes, but in one hour I managed to 'write' almost four thousand words!

Consequently, I am rather keen to keep this up and see if I can make the process produce a more accurate transcript of my words.  With that in mind, I have just ordered a new headset with a drop-down mic so the microphone will be closer to my mouth.  I'll let you know how I get on.

So if you are walking in the woods and see a strange woman walking her dog whilst annunciating loudly; "Full stop - new paragraph," say hi - it's probably me!

Karen

Afternoon Tea Break

I took a short break from editing the second draft of Ice and Fyre to enjoy a day out with my two daughters.

They treated me to afternoon tea at The Urban Jungle - a local eatery and garden centre where you sit in a virtual jungle to eat. They serve gluten free food by the bucket load. It was great to be able to enjoy a full afternoon tea - sandwiches, pastries, cakes and scones included!

Later we took a trip down to the cinema and watched Beauty and the Beast, which was very good indeed. I got royally spoiled and had a wonderful break from all the hard work of editing.

It was back to work this week though and I am now close to finishing the second draft of Ice and Fyre. Things are moving fast now.

I'm also planning the first draft of my next book 'Rabbit Girl' and really enjoying writing the new characters - a change is as good as a rest (or so they say).

Happy Easter!

Karen